If you want to party with the wacky neighbors of the community the Newser office makes it's home in, the Sunweavers are having their Halloween Party at Club Cutlass. Club owner Jenni Greenfield takes to the stage to spin the scary tunes tonight in what promises to be a spook-tacular event.

Steelhead has it's own Halloween party tonight at 7PM. But that is not all. Halloween is the last day of the "Go Fish!" hunt.

At participating locations there are dead fish lying about, it is your job to find them before they stink up the place. Some are easy to find, other's you'll need therapy after you do find it. ... please get them before they really rot.

Among the places taking part in the hunt is the "Malarkey Manor" also known as "Toby's House. Located at Steelhead Harborside (100/114/24), one can drop by here to get a notecard with a list of the locations where one can find the dead fish. The Malarkey Manor has two, with the clues being, "survive to get your TROPHY" and "dig much deeper."

The Creations Dance Club, of the Creations for Parkinson's Charity group, is having a Halloween event that seems a bit more light and a bit less dark, the "Hallow Eve of Light, Happiness, and Love."

Be prepared to be amazed! You and your friends are invited to a Unique Alternative Halloween Celebration Dance. Friday, October 31st 6-8 pm SLT Let's come together to create an uplifting positive evening filled with Light, Happiness and Love. At our New Dance Club at the Etheric Center of Living Light. encourage costumes & clothing to enhance the positive energy of this evening. 12 fabulous free gifts!

The World War Two combat roleplay of New Bastogne has been getting into the Halloween antics with the invasion of zombie soldiers. How combatants began raising from the dead is unknown, some say an experiment by Nazi scientists gone horribly awry, others say a curse by a powerful witch furious with the war. Moderator Vickster Khun described the event in a notice.

Today, and tomorrow (Halloween), WWII players are permitted to play as zombies. They will be using a device that gives them greater HP than normal infantry, and will have a melee attack only. Any player using this device should be dressed as a zombie and play on Team 3. Zombies are authorized only between the hours of 5PM and 12 Midnight, SLT (PDT). On another note, you are asked to engage zombies with infantry weapons only. Have fun!

The Zombie AO made those wearing it walk about in a stumbling, shuffling, often bent over manner. Jessicabelle Dayafter suggested those hunting the zombies on the hours they come out might be allowed some additions on their outfits that would normally make them out-of-uniform, such as a melee fighter's shoulder guard.

Those whom aren't yet in the combat roleplay, but are interested in taking part can head to read about the rules and get some starter gear at New Bastogne (117/156/37). Please take heed of the rules and listen to the moderators.

Luskwood, which last week celebrated their 11th anniversary, is whooping it up again with their Halloween event. The Big Tree is set to have some spooky scary fun.

That's right everyone! We're going to be haunted yet again. Feel free to start prepping those wonderful costumes for tomorrow the tunes will rise from the grave. Expect lots of our DJ fun and feel free to let your friends know to come on down then!

The haunted fun is listed as officially starting at 7PM, but people are likely to drop by in costume at the social area much before

All this, and more awaits those who brave the darkness in Second Life on Halloween.

Thursday, October 30, 2014

I recenty heard that the club called “The Full Circle Club,”
which I reported on in August, and also held an interview with
the owners, has closed it’s doors permanently. The reason
of closing is not known. I heard
about the group’s closing, after someone who runs the group,
sent me an IM notifying me that both the group as well as the club itself, have permanently closed down.

The Full
Circle Club was a nice club in which I reported on the Relay For Life
event a long while ago. It was nicely designed and the music that was played was nice too. It’s sad
to hear that the club is gone.

The Puddle Jumper Mall has opened a new vendor line consisting of aircraft and airport equipment manufactures. One aircraft manufacturer is our own local Jessicabelle Dayafter owner of Skunkette Aviation. Her product line consist of vintage World War II planes that was present during this years Relay for Life Air show where a rezzer was used for visitors to be allowed to fly. The rezzer has been inactive until now! You can rezz a plane and try it before you buy and is located in front of the store in the corner of taxiway and runway 34. The other aircraft manufacturer is Cloud Dancer Aviation with a wide assortment of aircraft type too numerous to list here. Flywalker Aviation Outfitters brings in a very large assortment of airport buildings, and ground equipment.

In an effort to make your shopping easier The Puddle Jumper Mall has connected with Podex Exchange and has installed an ATM. So now no need to have to leave to get money from the inworld exchange located at the Coda sim (45, 218, 61) and run the risk of running into a naturally masked ring-tailed bandit named Clumsy Cooper. Though this criminal seems to operate as well as Wild E. Coyote and the only harm he has cause is busted guts from laughter. Still the Podex Exchange system is considered one of the safest in Second Life. A telephone hotline to Cynthia Farshore the owner is installed located next to the Podex ATM by the stairs. The phone will leave messages if she is not on-line.

Speaking of stairs, it’s Halloween and the second floor has many items usable for this holiday. This includes witches hats, spell books, portals, and typing overrides that can give you that extra level above the rest.

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Last weekend, Luskwood celebrated it's eleventh anniversary. The best known of furry locations, as well as the oldest community in Second Life, celebrated with live music and DJ tunes. Quite a few Luskwood noteables showed up for the occasion, in addition to visitors dropping by only for this one event. So what exactly went on?

Pony fans have a chance for some Halloween fun with an Equestrian bent. DC the Cyberpony (death.berger) described it as "a huge multisim candy hunt. You run around the sims and click on candy, then you can use the points to get prizes." The sims involved are, "Derpyland, Trotsdale, Ponytown and Ponyvale." The event is not just for the residents of the community, but to all, "everyone is welcome."

According to the rules, while candy can be in RP areas, it will never be on someone's private property. Each sim has a total of 420 points worth of candy on it. It ranges from 5 point lolypops, peppermint sticks are worth 10 points, hard candy is 15 points, candy corn is 20 points, and pumpkin candy is a whopping 50 points. Some sims are described as having "exclusive prizes."

Anyone with questions can contact Dash (Shurikenangel Resident).

Note, visitors heading to the pony sims may need to go to a hub area first, where one will need to pick up a HUD to be able to use a teleporter to the sims.

We have hot chocolate and muffins, laptops, notebooks, pencils and some of the most supportive writers in Second Life®.

First things first, be sure to check out the main NaNoWriMo site. You can create your account, post information about yourself and your novel, meet other Wrimos and verify your word count once the party gets started on November 1st.

Next, grab our 2014 NaNoWriMo gift bag which you'll find next to Nate our friendly NaNoWriMo Officer (will be released on October 25th).

Next, wear our NaNoWriMo Participant Badge (found in the gift bag), activate the group so you are also wearing the group tag, then stand next to Nate (don't worry, he won't bite) and touch his badge (won't work until November 1st, so no cheating), then type in your new word count. Repeat the last step daily.

Please Note: Be sure to remove your 500 Word Snatch titler before you wear your NaNoWriMo badge as the word meter will interfere with it.

Scheduled Write-Ins (please be aware that the clocks go back in the US on 2nd November and on 26th October in the UK)

Please note we also have a twice-daily Writers' Dash running every Monday-Friday (6am & 6pm Pacific Time) and a 500 Word Snatch on Saturday at 12 noon Pacific time. These are often used by Wrimos to work on their novels.NaNoWriMo Writers' Camp & Daily Dash, Milk Wood (75, 49, 22) - General

A prompt is given and you have fifteen minutes to dash out a paragraph or two using the word (or picture) as inspiration. As well as being useful for sketching out notes and scenes before November, and for kick-starting your writing sessions during the month, they are another fun way to increase your word count. We also offer brief critiques for those attending.

If you want to talk shop with other participants you won't want to miss our Virtual Writers Water Cooler on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/group_folder/142415?group_id=77447

You can use the buzz and excitement of November to work on other writing endeavours, such as poetry, plays, short stories or essays. Write whatever takes your fancy - but try to write something every day.

There's been a new build in the Sunweaver Estates, the neighborhood where the Newser office makes it's home. Those dropping by Mouse Hole Manor in the past few days found something new, a huge guardian angel vixen statue just behind the main door. Alleara Snoodle made it for Nydia, whom wanted something to symbolize how her "Angels" group feel about protecting one another. Nydia created the group for both friends of hers, and Second Life residents she came across whom were in need one one.

Yesterday in the afternoon, things weren't going quite right for some Second Life residents. Some couldn't log in. Others couldn't teleport or ended up in places like the hub in the Adult sim of Arapama. Ending up there, the only way I could escape was to log off and relog at my Home location. So what was going on? A look at the Grid Status revealed a problem.

Unscheduled MaintenancePosted by Status Desk on October 27th, 2014 at 03:24 pm PDT[Posted 3:24 PM PDT, 27 October 2014] We are currently undergoing unscheduled maintenance to several systems. Some Residents may experience difficulties with multiple services, including logins, Web dashboards, and searches. Please keep an eye on this blog for details.

Eventually people were able to log in and port as they were before, though for a while, things were frustrating.

Monday, October 27, 2014

It's almost time for Halloween. Besides the many costume parties across Second Life, there's also plenty of Haunted Houses and other haunts across the Grid. Bixyl Shuftan only had a limited amount of time, so he just checked out a few to review.

Longtime readers may remember Baron DeSantis, the muscular blond reporter of the old Second Life Newspaper, whom is probably best known for his writing about his running afoul of the authorities in a roleplay sim. Well, Baron, or "Baz" as he's sometimes known these days, hasn't left Second Life. Not only is he still around, he's been poking around other virtual worlds. One that caught his interest is Avination. In his article for the Newser today, he describes what he found.

Quite a bit happened this weekend. There was the Luskwood Eleventh anniversary. The final official events of the Burn2 Festival, notably the Burning of the Man and the Temple Burn, took place. The Roma community had a Halloween festival, Steelhead held it's Halloween "Scamps Ball." Frets Nirvana held a benefit event for the "Homes For Our Troops" Charity. There was the First Annual Making Strides Walk. Tuna Oddfellow had his performance for the "Fright Fest" in Inworldz. And there were the various haunts across Second Life. Sorry to say we couldn't cover them all. And those we were able to ... well, we can't be in Second Life and write about it at the same time.

So if your favorite event didn't quite make the paper, well, that's where you come in by writing about it yourself with a Reader Submission.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

Taken from Luskwood's 11th Anniversary party, Michi Lumin's dance AO occasionally put her in a position that for a skunk is equivalent to drawing a mace canister. No wonder the ponies seem to be backing away.

For players whom have already clobbered Hellscream, the rewards won't match the gear they've likely gotten. But those whom haven't quite reached the gear level needed to take on the Siege of Ogrimmar will get a boost that should allow them to skip a couple raid instances. And thanks to the update, finally Ogrimmar no longer looks like Hellscream is still in charge.

So is yours truly back in Azeroth to stay? We'll see. The upcoming expansion isn't exactly getting lots of chatter among my circle of friends.

Saturday, October 25, 2014

"A video of the flying carpet tour that one can ride at the International
Spaceflight Museum (ISM) in the virtual world Second Life (SL). It
gives an overview of the early history of the museum. You can visit the
museum in SL at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife...

Friday, October 24, 2014

For her latest game review Nydia Tungsten has been playing the multiplayer online game "Archeage." As a Fantasy MMO, one might ask what distinguishes this from the crowd? There were several details that got her attention, a feline race with details like digigrade feet, the ability farm goods needed for quests and crafting, and a "labor point" system unique from any other game of it's kind. So what are the down sides of this (mostly) free to play online game and do the good points more than make up for them?

Since Frets Nirvana's announcement concerning his change from the Wounded Warrior charity to "Homes Four Our Troops," Second Life Newser hasn't heard about any veterans' charity events, until recently, when the "Wild Iron Steeds" club held one.

Wild Iron Steeds are proud to host our first benefit event at Sons of Anarchy sim. The benefit is to help raise funds for Homes for our Troops and we have rides, games, DJs and bands to entice you all to donate some lindens. So please show your support of our MC and this worthy cause by joining us for some fun!! Starts 12pm SLT and rolls until 12am SLT. YEAH!! 12 hours of non--stop music and fun - we have t-shirts, hats and flags.

I dropped by fairly late into the event, about 9PM when the crowd had dwindled a bit to a small size. About 10,000 Lindens had been raised for the charity.

Thursday, October 23, 2014

On the opening day of the Burn2 art and music festival, Bixyl Shuftan was there for the Second Life Newser, going around and taking screenshots. With six sims of exhibitions by the various artists, there was lots to see. Here's a selection of the pictures taken.

Going about Second Life, Wesley's explorations took him to the SciLands, and the International Space Museum. Often called the ISM for short, the location has been popular with space enthusiasts since it was build in 2005, and even after almost a decade continues to wow visitors. Wesley took a look around too see things for himself. So what was his view?

Fright Fest '14 has something for everyone! Tuna Oddfellow has been blowing minds since 2007 with the indescribable ambiance of his psychedelic Odd Balls. You just have to see it to believe it! We are very excited to announce that he will present a Witches Night performance at his Fright Fest Odd Ball Stage on Satuday Oct 25, beginning at Noon IWT (pacific) and a second show at 6 PM IWT (pacific).

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Another one from Burn2. This is one of their various vehicles one can rezz, hop aboard, and go around the festival grounds. How one ends up with a seemingly runnaway vacuum is left for others to imagine.

Second Life's oldest active community, hangout, and avatar maker, is about to celebrate it's anniversary, it's eleventh. On Friday, October 24 the celebration officially begins at 6PM with live musician Shannon Oherlihy. At 7PM, the second live performance begins with the popular Frogg Marlowe. DJ Cabaleer takes the stage at 8PM, and at 9PM squirrelgirl DJ Haley arrives to spin the tunes. The DJs for the remaining two hours have yet to be chosen, but Lusk founder Michi Lumin assures something will be going on at the Big Tree until Midnight SL time.

The official Second Life blog from Linden Lab has been a bit active lately. Last week, it was announced that SLGo, the viewer that allowed Second Life to be played from tablets was now available for the iPad.

With SL Go, you can now access Second Life on your iPad using Wi-Fi or
4G LTE and enjoy a high-fidelity experience with great graphics quality,
full shaders, shadows, and full motion capability. SL Go gives you
access to the full Second Life Viewer interface, including edit menus,
inventory, preference settings and chat management, adding intuitive
touch controls.

The new hardware offers an even more immersive experience when used
with Second Life - there’s less likelihood of feeling motion sick thanks
to the motion-tracking features, and less of the “screen-door effect”
on the visuals, thanks to higher resolution and brighter display.
... We’ve integrated the DK2 with Second Life, and today are releasing a
new Project Viewer so that virtual reality enthusiasts with the DK2 can
use it anywhere in Second Life ...

Linden Lab stated the viewer still has some bugs and glitches, but was working to smooth them out.

But the most recent update on the Linden blog (aside from the latest Destination Guide highlights) was about what might be called "Halloween Treats for Everyone." To begin with, the price for the first three months of Premium membership after signing up for quarterly payments has been temporarily cut in half, to $11.25 US dollars (the second quarterly payment will be the normal $22.50). Besides the 1000L signup bonus and 300L weekly allowance, the Linden home, and other perks, Premium members also get some limited edition premium gifts

Just in time for Halloween, we have some new gifts for Premium
subscribers - the bag of treats includes jack o'lanterns, witches’
brooms and more - including a bone-shaking skeleton avatar to haunt your
favorite spooky spots in. Go Premium, then pick up your gifts at the inworld Gift Kiosks.

If you’re a Premium member, you won't want to miss the latest gifts
included with your membership! Show your inner self with a spooky
skeleton avatar or terrify your neighbors with exclusive Halloween
decorations. Who needs costumes when everyone’s got bones?

Linden Lab was also touting a special Halloween ride at LR Portal Park1 (113, 126, 23), The Haunted Halloween Tour.

There’s also a special treat for everyone! Come visit the Haunted Halloween Tour and ride through a terrifying gauntlet of thrills and chills! For those who dare, step through the Halloween path from the Portal Park. If you have an Oculus Rift, you can check out the tour’s VR option - just grab the latest Project Viewer to get started.

What will you do this Halloween. Help children with a sugar fix? Buy overpriced masks from big-box stores? Do something different, something frightening and fun. Linden Lab is pround to present the Haunted Halloween Tour. Strap in and prepare to experience haunts, ghouls, death, scares, and a descent through madness itself. It's definately not for the faint of heart!

Finally there's a screenshot contest being held by Linden Lab, the "Fa-BOO-lous Snapshot Contest." The top prize is 10,000 Lindens with smaller cash prizes for runners up.

Last, but certainly not least - we know how much you love to dress up
and show off your seasonal side this time of year - so why not join us
on the forums for Second Life’s Fa-BOO-lous Snapshot Contest. Your frightful and delightful snapshots could win you L$10,000, L$5,000, L$3,000, or L$1,000!
x
To see the list of entries already submitted, Click Here.

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

After weeks of inaction, the "Events this Week" Section is back. But things will be a little different. Before, it had been one large entry of various events every Tuesday. This time, it will be one or more much smaller entries every week, notably of the Newser's home community of the Sunweaver Estates. This is to allow the Newser to be able to devote time and effort to various news happenings across Second Life, and to avoid making guesses about locations that delay or have ceased making announcements about their events. We also may not announce updates in the main section if they are small ones.

We may make further changes later on. Though for now hopefully this will benefit the community where the Newser office makes it's home.

On Sunday October 19, on the discussion forum of the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, Ceasar Xigalia announced his resignation as Chancellor of the community. Ceasar described his term as following "an extended period where laws and democratic process had become secondary to those who wished to hold on to their positions of power at all cost." Among the issues of the election was land, whether to expand or keep the community the size it was. Ceasar described himself as being stymied in his efforts to add a sim to the community's estate. "The actions of certain members" he wrote, "made it undeniable" that his opposition "would use its powers for political gain and to protect its own interests."

"I can no longer in good conscience support a system that claims it follows democratic principles but is in fact simply a closed group role playing democracy amongst themselves rather than a real social experiment in virtual community development. The system is corrupt and seeks to consolidate power in an elite. I find this morally indefensible and therefore I refuse to continue to take further part and resign my position as Chancellor."

The Confederation of Democratic Simulators describes itself on it's webpage as "the oldest democracy in Second Life. Originally founded in 2004 as the City of Neualtenburg in the Anzere region, the Confederation of Democratic Simulators (C.D.S.) is now a five-region community operated by the citizens." The CDS recently celebrated it's tenth anniversary.

Monday, October 20, 2014

On the lookout for Halloween Haunts, Gemma Cleanslate found some at a familiar place: Areo Pines Park. The park changes with the season, and with the fall comes the Autumn Festival. But it's also the season of spooky fun as October 31st approaches, so the staff added some chills and thrills at a place more noted for nature trails and horseback riding. Gemma took a look, and was not disappointed.

Saturday was the opening of the Burn2, and yours truly spent much of Saturday walking around taking pictures. There was quite a bit to see. Sunday I interviewed iSkye Silverweb, one of the staff of the event. However, it was also my real-life birthday weekend, so spent much of the time having fun with friends, including looking around a haunted house. I'll have something written about both events soon.

On Sunday, October 26, 2014, at 9 am slt, the very first Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk will be held in Second Life.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Across Second Life is an annual event that place in honor of breast cancer awareness and fundraising in October of each year. Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is the official breast cancer charity of the American Cancer Society.

Second Life residents will make strides together to promote breast cancer awareness and to honor breast cancer survivors and caregivers. Stride Walk will kick off at 9 am slt with a special T1 Radio Warm Up Show and will feature 9 hours of themed laps, live djs and performances, and fun! The day will wrap up with a special Pink Power Time Machine Special event with Trader1 Whiplash from 5pm to 7pm slt. Below is a complete schedule of events with hourly themes:

Schedule of Events:
9 am to 10 am slt – T1 Radio
10am to 11 am slt – Opening Ceremony
11 to 12pm slt – T1 Radio – Survivor and Caregiver Hour (Survivors and caregivers are why we make strides! Help us honor these very special people)
12 pm to 1pm slt – Boot It Up Hour (wear your favorite boots as you walk around the Stride’s path)
1pm to 2pm slt – International Spirit Hour (Wave your country’s flag as you walk around the Stride’s path)
2pm to 3pm slt – Hat’s Aplenty Hour (Show off your favorite hat during this hour)
3pm to 4pm slt – Let’s Get Hopping Hour (Grab one of our hoppers and hop around the path)
4pm to 5pm slt – Remembrance Ceremony (Remember your loved ones that you have lost to breast cancer during this special hour)
5pm to 7pm slt – Time Machine Special (We are going back to the 1960’s with DJ Trader1 Whiplash)

About Making Strides Against Breast Cancer:
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer or MSABC is the largest network of breast cancer awareness events in the nation, uniting more than 300 communities to finish the fight. Every breast cancer walk and event is an incredible and inspiring opportunity to honor those who have battled breast cancer, raise awareness about what we can do to reduce our breast cancer risk, and raise money to help the American Cancer Society fight the disease with research, information, services, and access to mammograms for women who need them.
About the American Cancer Society:

For more than 100 years, the American Cancer Society (ACS) has worked relentlessly to save lives and create a world with less cancer and more birthdays. Together with millions of our supporters worldwide, we help people stay well, help people get well, find cures, and fight back against cancer.

For more information:
www.makingstridessl.org
http://makingstrides.acsevents.org/site/PageServer?pagename=MSABC_CY14_FindAnEvent
www.cancer.org

Saturday, October 18, 2014

After weeks, perhaps months, or preparation, the Burn2 Festival is finally here. Starting today at 10AM SL time, the exhibits were opened to all to see. Come and see the Second Life adaptation of the real-life Burning Man music and art festival from the Black Rock Desert in Nevada attended by over fifty thousand people every year. While it's not quite that crowded in the Burn2 sims, this is a popular annual event, so be prepared for some lag, especially at peak traffic times. Those who arrive can expect to enjoy numerous art exhibitions and many music events.

The event lasts until October 26. While the "Burners" have made a few spinoff events around the year, there's only one Burn2. So don't dally.

From Nydia Tungsten who did this for Dusk Griswold, "This was done by request from one of my Angels Dusk, I hope you like it angel. Dusk, Rita, Skylark, Pagan, Bixyl, and Nydia dance and surf their way to Margaritaville"

Everyone knows that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month but very few know it is also Pregnancy and Infant Loss (PAIL) Remembrance. October 15th of every year is a special day for everyone who has lost a child, either due to miscarriage or something else. At 7pm on the 15th everyone will light a candle for their loss and for any loved one’s losses and let the candle or candles burn for one hour. It is called Worldwide Candle Lighting. This creates a wave of light around the world. This can be done by anybody. I do it for my daughter and for several friends who have also lost their babies for different reasons.

If you know someone who has lost a child for any reason, talk to them let them know you care for them. And take it from someone who has lost a child herself, talk about the child. If you knew him or her tell the parent(s) what you remember about their child. They may not show it right away but it will make them happy that someone else remembers their “baby.”

Also, you can find help for your loss and a friend’s loss. Most people do not know that children are lost to some sort of death. We need to get it out there more, show people that is does happen. Let them know what can be done to help the parents of any children who pass away. There is a wonderful group known as The Compassionate Friends that is very good at helping with loss. They cover all sorts of loss and even have online support groups you can go to. Their website is www.compassionatefriends.org. I go to this group when I need help dealing with my loss even though it has been 5 years now. Some cities have a local chapter of The Compassionate Friends as well. One would just need to go on their website and it will tell them if there is one in their area.

Covadonga Writer, a friend of the SL Newser whom has often hosted beach parties for the paper's crew, recently had her own party. October 15 is the anniversary of her and her partner Ruffian's relationship. And with Halloween just around the corner, they threw an anniversary party and gave it a spooky look in theme for the holiday.

There were various costumes, some scary, some whimsical. Covadonga Writer sported a "Bride of Frankenstein" look while Ruffian came as the not so good Doctor. Other outfits included vampires, Borg, Wicked Queen, Phantom of the Opera, The Shadow, and others.

There were some funny Halloween songs played, such as "Blood Bank Blues," and "Monster Mash." And there were lots of jokes and puns tossed around, "Why does Transylvania University have a hard time getting students?" "The tuition's a pain in the neck."

Among the artists best known in Second Life is Bryn Oh, whom has made a name for herself with her art displays arranged to tell a story. Now you can see various works by her over the years in "Retrospective" at LEA9. Gemma Cleanslate took a look at her exhibit, as well as that of Eliza Cabassoun in LEA9.

The Elizabeth Town sim, which changes every holiday, has brought back "Halloween Town," which offers chills and thrills, in the form of spooky shops, and scary displays.The town is set onto a hill with visitors arriving on top and the road winding down, with a haunted house at the bottom.

One thing new is the giant demon hand that will give anyone who hops aboard an overhead tour of the city, though exactly where it will drop you, I haven't seen.

There's also a pumpkin carving contest, with a list of rules and a sample pumpkin that can be picked up. There are 7000 Lindens in prizes to be given out, with 1600 going to the best overall, and 1000 each to the "Most Creative," "Most Scary," and "Most Artistic," with 550L and 250L to 2nd and 3rd.

Tanja Resident (Tina) is the one to send the pumpkins to, and those interested have until October 30 to send one. "Several of the creators who sell at Halloween Town will be judging. The votes will be collected and tallied by Laura Liberty. The winner's names will be posted at Halloween Town on October 31st. You will be contacted by Laura Liberty if you are a winner."